Broadway Village held a formal groundbreaking on 10 January 2008 with Governor Jennifer Granholm in attendance. "I think this project is right in the sweet spot of what we should be doing," Granholm reportedly said.

Strathmore planned to pay for much of the project's cost from money Broadway Village otherwise would have paid in property taxes. Since it was never built, that's now moot. But the state still lost money on the project: the State of Michigan Retirement System (SMRS), which manages pensions for 565,000 Michigan public school employees, state workers, state police, and judges, made a $20 million equity investment.

4. Broadway Village at Lower Town. This may be the longest duration for an unrequited project in the city, which may be fitting given its history as both controversial and enormous. The reasons for building on the site still exist - it offers an excellent location with proximity to downtown and U-M’s Medical Center, and it could become a gem for residential and destination retail. Yet in the meantime, we could look at fencing and broken concrete for some time.

With the ceremonial shovels turned Jan. 10 at Broadway Village at Lower Town, Clark Construction Co. is now pressing ahead on a bullish construction schedule it hopes will have the $171 million project opened in 2010. Strathmore Development Co. estimates it will take about 30 months and 6,000 personnel hours to complete the project, which includes 152,689 square feet of medical and office space, 138,275 square feet of retail and 185 apartments.